I just got back from Sydney. Australia was as dramatic and beautiful as I remembered, but I had forgotten the incredible optimism and genuine kindness of its people. Feeling it again made it hard to let go.
I am one of the ex-priests from Australia who was stuck overseas in London during the covid-19 pandemic. Unable to return home to Australia, my wish The Great Southern Land Was spoiled by my work: writing and editing Books and articles about Australia for publications such as Lonely Planet.
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Home in London and Australia
Although I was born in London, I lived most of my life in Australia, growing up first in Sydney before moving to Melbourne for secondary school. Melbourne was my home from then on. I got married in Melbourne and started a family. But a decade ago I moved to London for work with great enthusiasm.
I lived in London before my 20s, working low-paid jobs and spending all my earnings on travel and drinking, as Australians in London are famous for. This time it was different. Having children binds you to a place: we become part of the school community. Accredited parents in the park; The children joined the local choir and went to the Browns in the local church hall. We knew our neighbors.
However, until 2020, I was lucky enough to return every year for the “Australia Top Up”. I would visit friends and family and check on what was safely stored in a shipping container on my friend’s bushfire zone farm. At one point, I came back to sit with my mother when she passed away.
Australia was a full 24-hour journey, but I took every opportunity to jump on a plane to head south (locking my carbon with an outfit like this one). Finance, Of course). Yes, Europe was on my doorstep, but the wide open spaces of Australia called out to me.
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Pre-pandemic times were different.
Air fares were at an all-time low before the pandemic hit. If you book well enough in advance, you can fly to Oz for £650, which is less than a month’s rent in London. And of course, I’m privileged. In my parents’ day in the 1970s, a return fare from London to their birthplace (New Zealand) was around £4000. This is the main reason why he has made only a few such trips in his life.
In 2020 and 2021, tickets for half-empty airplanes suddenly become prohibitively expensive again. You also needed money to cover a self-funded quarantine, and a two-week break to be locked in a hotel room. For many Australians, getting home was an impossible proposition, and the cause of much frustration, anger and hurt. We bonded over social media groups, shared intel on flight releases, and how to survive a hotel quarantine with a toddler while trying to work on Zoom. Shipping containers were rare, making it impossible to ship things home.
England is beautiful, but it’s a beautiful kind of beauty: little pockets of forest and ephemeral stretches of river or seashore beyond the traces of human habitation. Living in nature in Australia is a completely different experience. It’s amazing how the desert night sky can swallow you up. You suddenly become aware of your importance and weakness. The forests in Australia are so dense and unexplored that there are tree species that have only just been cataloged.
In Australia, you can walk for days in national parks far from any town or city. You can wander through mountains, cliffs or rugged desert landscapes with only the company of wildlife calling. The beaches where I spent my Australian childhood were places of sea foam and relentless waves that could sweep you out to sea if you weren’t careful. Australia inspires you with its energy and drama, but it’s also about being mindful of detail, like tiny desert flowers in an inhospitable landscape.
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After years of longing, they finally reached Australia.
This month, three years after I last set foot on Australian soil, I finally returned for a job.
I hate to admit it but the moment I boarded the Singapore Airlines flight to Sydney, the whole pandemic ordeal ended like a bad dream. It was replaced by the soul-stirring spectacle of the sun shining down on Sydney Harbour, ferries bobbing on bush-heads, rocking million-dollar boats.
And so I found myself once again photographing the iconic Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge, the wind whipping my hair as we drove past lunch. Rose Bay Back to Circular Quay.
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A new look in Sydney
Sydney was everything I remembered and more. With renewed appreciation, I saw the crisp freshness of local ingredients – dishes bursting with color and flavor, seafood that was plump and juicy. I appreciated the service staff who wanted to be there, chatting because they were interested, not just working for tips.
I caught a bus to Coogee to swim in the sea baths built into the reef at the southern end of the beach. The water swelled with the sea, alive with seaweed and sea urchins.
I wandered through the cosmopolitan Surrey Hills to relive it. Darling Square, a relatively new pedestrian boulevard running to Darling Harbour, next to Chinatown. The streets were busy with Sydneysiders: eating out. Rollerskating in the evening; Or slipping into friendly but cool speakeasies for cocktails after dark.
I visited the newest addition to the city’s skyline, which is incredible. Crown TowersAfter I searched for art Sydney Biennale.. At 275m, its elegant concentric skyscraper of glass and marble draws visitors to thriving Barangaroo. It was too wet for a sunbather on the roof. TheftWith its views of the Harbor Bridge, so I wandered over the city, instead, golf umbrella in hand.
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Connecting with Earth’s history
Not for the first time, Australia’s Aboriginal story was something to behold for me. The hills, plantations, harbor islands, chirping birds and flooding rivers that make up the city have remained intact despite more than two centuries of colonial intervention.
Some awareness of Sydney as Aboriginal land is more symbolic: road signs, or cultural tours that Gudigal approach with visitors. But on a deeper level, I understand that my experience of this place is only temporary. I am a guest here. we all are.
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Tackling a long list of unforgettable experiences
I realized, upon returning to the country I still wanted to call “home”, that I needed to get to know Australia better. Lonely Planet has collected 500 unforgettable experiences. The Ultimate Australia Travel List. It will take me a lifetime to do them all, but I have decided that I will try now.
With this in mind, I made a commitment to return within a year. As long as there are flights I’m going back to the great southern land.
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